


Sister

by leradny



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, The Last Jedi - Freeform, brief memory loss too bc seriously, just some sisterly bonding going on here, plus some force healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 10:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13075455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leradny/pseuds/leradny





	Sister

When Rose wakes up, it’s to the remnants of the Resistance in an unfamiliar ship. Her head aches. Her whole body, too. There’s a great searing blank in her memory after she crashed her ski-speeder into Finn’s. She’d known just where to hit it so that it would take minimal damage, but minimal is not nothing and the speeders were old. She groans awake, and before she knows it Finn’s peering down at her. "Rose!" he says. "Do you need anything? Water? Never mind, wait--" and he’s off, pushing through the cramped cabin.

There’s one slim figure she doesn’t recognize standing in a corner--a young woman about her age in muted, worn grays. She’s worrying at her hair and staring off into space. That goes for most of the others, but other than exhaustion, she seems uninjured. There’s a faint glow around her, but when Rose struggles up and blinks, it goes out.

"Hi," Rose croaks. "Who are you?"

"Rey." The girl smiles faintly. She has a Coruscant accent which doesn’t match her clothes. "You must be Rose. Finn told me about you. Thank you for saving his life."

Rose has slept in her clothes and that will probably be the situation for a while. But her skull is sore and sleeping on her ponytail probably added another lump. She reaches behind her head and winces when her shoulder protests.

"What?"

"Can you take the hairband off? It’s really not helping my headache right now."

Rey hesitates and abruptly Rose remembers that she's not talking to her sister. Also, Paige is dead. Most of her friends are too. Her eyes sting and blur until Rey reluctantly says, "All right, if it hurts so much..." and reaches for the back of Rose’s head. Rose tries not to compare them, but the memories are like a flood: Paige would have just yanked it off in one go, cackling, and said that was why she wore a cap to keep her hair out of her face. Rey painstakingly undoes one loop at a time as if her hair is the most fragile thing, and she winces when Rose does. When it’s done, the loosened tension is like a breath of fresh air and Rose sighs in relief.

Not having combs is a normal problem in a Resistance with dwindling supplies, so she reaches up to card her fingers through her locks--and too late, a sharp jolt goes through the exact same shoulder she couldn’t use two seconds ago. "Ow!"

"Here, let--" Rose twists around to see a brief flash of sadness on Rey’s face before she goes on. "Let me help."

Rey’s hands are almost like Paige’s, both calloused from years of hard work, yet slender and long, but Rey is gentle running her fingers through Rose’s hair. There’s a soothing rhythm to it that reminds Rose of her mother and she swears the pain actually goes away with the light touch. Or maybe her ponytail was too tight after all.

"There," Rey says. "Um... it’s all sorted. Get better, Rose." She gives the hairband back, and while Rose winds it around her wrist, the last Jedi lays a hand on Rose’s shoulder in a brief moment of affection before quickly lifting it and turning away as if embarrassed or still shy.

The fire there ebbs too. Rose turns to see Rey squeeze through the cabin like a frightened vulptex. But just as Finn returns with a flask of water, Rose realizes that yes, all of her pain is suddenly gone.

It doesn’t come back.


End file.
